Car keys are misplaced, a name resists moving past the tip of the tongue. Often, we respond with humor: "I must be getting Alzhe

admin2014-01-15  0

问题     Car keys are misplaced, a name resists moving past the tip of the tongue. Often, we respond with humor: "I must be getting Alzheimer’ s." But the memory loss that age can bring differs greatly from the dementia of Alzheimer’ s. Slowly, fatally, Alzheimer’ s erodes memory, personality and self-awareness. As many as 4 million Americans have it - one in 10 people over 65 and half of those over 85.
    It has no cure, and few effective treatments. But in the last decade scientists have started to understand the biochemistry behind Alzheimer’ s. Today at least 17 drugs are in development. "We don’t have the penicillin for Alzheimer’ s yet," says Dr. Rosenberg. "But it’ s coming." And some of what researchers learn about how this illness rots memory might even help those folks who mislaid their keys.
    Today’ s treatments only ease symptoms. One of Alzheimer’ s main effects is the destruction of brain cells that produce the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, a chemical essential to learning and memory. Neither of the drugs used most widely for Alzheimer’ s, Cognex and Aricept, slow the death of those cells. Instead, the drugs slow the deterioration by inhibiting the action of acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme that breaks acetylcholine down. "The drugs help make the best use of what you have left," says Dr. Tanzi. Yet the drugs have limitations: Cognex only works for a few patients and can cause liver problems. Aricept spares the liver, but its benefits are modest. At least three improved acetylcholinesterase inhibitors are on deck; the first could be out by fall.
    Future treatments will have to attack the disease more directly. Scientists hope to control the physical changes in the brain that cause the dementia, such as plaques made of protein called beta amyloid that gum up neurons. Amyloid is found throughout the body but has an abnormal form toxic to neurons in the brain. For reasons no one is sure of, an enzyme can divide a larger protein improperly, creating the dangerous amyloid beta. Some chemicals appear to block the cleaving enzyme; they may someday lead to new usable drugs.
Which of the following is NOT a cause of Alzheimer’ s?

选项 A、neurons
B、cleaving enzyme
C、plaques
D、amyloid beta

答案A

解析 本文主要讲述Alzheimer’s(阿尔茨海默氏病、老年性痴呆病)的病状及治疗。作者在末段介绍未来对此疾病的治疗方法时提及到了该病的起因。在末段第:二行提到了"plaques"(<生>空斑<医>血小板),在第二、三、五行提到了“amyloid”(淀粉状蛋白),“betaamyloid”,“amyloid beta”和"cleaving enzyme"(分裂酶),因此B、C、D选项都作为病因被提到了。而A不是病因,未被提及,故A为正确答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/KsT3777K
0

随机试题
最新回复(0)